Originally billed simply as ‘The Fight’, the world middleweight championship bout between Thomas ‘Hitman’ Hearns and ‘Marvelous’ Marvin Hagler at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas on April 15, 1985 lasted just three rounds, yet was named ‘Fight of the Year’ by ‘The Ring’ magazine.Hagler, 30, was the undisputed world middleweight champion – and had been since September, 1980 – while Hearns, 26, was the reigning WBC light-middleweight, but moved up in weight to face Hagler.

The opening round was truly unforgettable. Both fighters started aggressively, with Hearns hurting Hagler, more than once, with flush right-hand punches – one which fractured his hand – and Hagler countering, with a right hand of his own, late in the round. After a breathless, action-packed first round, the tempo had to drop and it did. Nevertheless, boxing on the outside, Hearns used his jab to open cuts, which bled copiously, over both the eyes of his opponent. Hagler responded by increasing his work rate on the inside and, late on in round two, trapped Hearns against the ropes and hurt him with several blows to his head and body.

In the third, and final, round, Hearns once again started on the outside, but after a short timeout, for the ringside doctor to examine Hagler, the defending champion resumed with renewed vigour. Shortly afterwards, he caught Hearns with a right hand, followed by another, and another, which dropped him to the canvas. Remarkably, Hearns rose to his feet at the count of nine, but was clearly unfit to continue and the fight was stopped.

Read about the fight here

On April 19, 2008, Bernard Hopkins, 43, made his second defence of The Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight Title against Joe Calzaghe at the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. Calzaghe, 36, was making his American and light-heavyweight debut, but went into the fight – billed as ‘The Battle of the Planet’ – undefeated in all of his 44 professional bouts, including 32 knockouts.

Consequently, Calzaghe started 3/1 favourite but, after just a minute of the opening round, found himself on the seat of his pants, for only the third time in his career, after Hopkins landed a short right hand. He rose quickly, but had suffered a cut on the bridge of his nose, which worsened during round two as Hopkins continued to enjoy success with his right hand. Indeed, Hopkins was the faster, more aggressive fighter for the first four rounds, as Calzaghe thought twice about throwing punches in the number, and ferocity, that had hitherto been his trademark.

However, Calzaghe gradually recovered his composure, regained his confidence and raised his work rate, such that he started to put pressure on Hopkins and went on to command the second half of the fight. In the tenth round, an increasingly desperate Hopkins milked an apparent low blow for all it was worth, causing the referee to delay the fight for several minutes while he recovered. However, his antics were to no avail, with Calzaghe continuing to dominate until the final bell and eventually winning by a contentious split decision, 116-111, 115-112, 113-114.

Read about the fight here